Girdle



United States Patent Inventor Patricia A. Morehouse Hawthorn Woods,lllinois Appl. No 756,126 Filed Aug. 29, 1968 Patented Aug. 11, 1970Assignee The H. W. Gossard Co.

Chicago, Illinois a Corp. of Delaware GIRDLE 4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 128/539, 128/546, 128/552 Int. Cl A41c 1/00 Field ofSearch128/524-529.

Primary Examiner-- Adele M. Eager Att0rney Donald Malcolm ABSTRACT: Alight-weight foundation garment of the girdle or panty girdle type,comprising two sections of two-way stretch elastic fabric which areconnected together at the front and back. The said two sections of thegarment are composed of an outer layer of elastic fabric which extendsthroughout the garment, and an inner layer of similar fabric whichunderlies and is secured to said outer layer and has certain areas cutout at the front and back. Thus a double thickness of elastic fabric,providing maximum control, is incorporated only into those areas whichrequire it, and other portions of the garment including the waistline,center of the back, and inner leg areas, are relatively unrestrained.

Patented Aug. 11, 1970 Sheet of 3 INNER SECT\ON OUTEP SECT\ON INVENTORPmwacm A. Mowzuousa SI NGLE Tl-NCKNESS SINGLE THKZKNESS ATTORNEYPatented Aug. 11,1910 3,523,540

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SINGLE. THICKNESS lNVENTOR lia-name A. MOREHOUSE ATTORNEY GIRDLE In allembodiments of the invention, the front of the inner layer of elasticmaterial has an area cut out at the central bottom thereof and extendingupwardly into the region of the crotch, another area cut out of theupper portion of the back and extending up to the waistline, and a thirdarea in the shape of an inverted Vcut out of the lower central back andextending down to the bottom of the garment.

The inner and outer layers of elastic material, nested one within theother, are stitched together to form a composite garment. The overallreinforcementiconsisting of two layers, or a double thickness, of sheer,fine gauge elastic net fabric, affords as much or more control whereneeded than a single layer of a heavier net of equal power, without thenecessity of employing additional elastic bands and/orrigid panels asfrequently required in the past. At the same time, the areas having buta single thickness of elastic fabric, where the outer layer of thegarment overlies the cut-out portions of the inner layer, leave thecorresponding regions of the wearers body relatively unrestrained wheremaximum control is not required.

Hose supporters, which exert a straight-down pull on the garment ashereinafter described, afford additional control to the abdominal areaof the girdle. They pull vertically against the horizontal pull aroundthe body, stretching the front of the garment in both directions andholding it taut against the body.

The invention is described in connection with the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view, as viewed from the front, of alight-weight elastic girdle embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear of said garment;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view showing only the inner elasticsection or layer of the garment;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view showing only the outer elasticsection or layer of the garment;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged typical horizontal cross-section taken on any ofthe lines 5-5 of FIGS. 1 or 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the front of a panty girdle embodyingthe invention;

FIG. 7 is a rear perspective view of the panty girdle shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows, in front elevation, the disassembled parts of the pantygirdle of FIG. 6, which are, from top to bottom, the inner elasticsection of the garment, the added crotch piece, and the outer elasticsection of the garment;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view, as viewed front the front, illustrating amodification of the panty girdle shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the rear of the panty girdle shown inFIG. 9.

The girdle illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, inclusive, is a form fittingslip-on girdle which is adapted to encircle the body of the wearer fromthe waist downwardly below the hips.

It comprises two sections or layers consisting of an inner section 1 anda superimposed outer section 2, which are composed of sheer, fine gaugetwo-waystretch elastic powernet.

When these two sections are assembled with section I on the inside andsection 2 superimposed thereon on the outside, they are secured togetherby a vertical front seam 3 and a vertical back seam 4. Thus, the girdledoes not have vertical side seams (as do most girdles). As a result, theshaping of this girdle is in the back seam where fullness is needed tokeep the back of the garment from pulling down in sitting, while thesides are kept flat for maximum control in this area.

As shown in FIG. 3, the front of the elastic inner section 1 of thegarment has a cut-out area 5 in the shape of an inverted U which extendsfrom the bottom edge up to the region of the crotch. The back of saidinner section I has a wide V- shaped cut-out area 6 at the top, and acentral cut-out area 7 in the shape of an inverted V" at the bottom.Thus the elastic inner section I will exert maximum control only onthose areas of the wearers body which require such control, and itleaves the waistline, center of the back, and inner leg areas relativelyunrestrained.

As shown in FIG. 4, the outer elastic section 2 of the garment has asmall central cut-out area 8 of inverted V-shape extending upwardly fromthe bottom edge. This Yed front area 8, in conjunction with the Vedcut-out area 7 and the Ued cut-out area 5 in the inner elastic section1, affords much the same freedom of movement of the wearers legs that apanty does, without the loss of hip control desired by the woman whoprefers to wear a girdle for that reason. Since the girdle morecompletely encases the figure in the upper thigh area than aconventional girdle does, it smooths the top of the leg, particularlywhen the wearer is seated.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the front and back, respectively, of the completelyassembled girdle. The elastic waist band 9 stitched to the upper edge ofthe girdle has an extremely long stretch to facilitate putting thegarment on and off, and to prevent shrinkage from tightening the waistafter washing. This band 9 is wide enough to inhibit curling androlling. An elastic facing 10 is stitched to the bottom edge of thegirdle, and hose supporters 12 are secured to the inner side of saidfacing. The hose supporters, when attached to the hose, pull verticallyagainst the horizontal pull around the body, stretching the front of thegarment in both directions and holding it taut against the body.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inner and outer sections or layers 1 and 2 ofelastic fabric are secured together at the front of the garment by aplurality of spaced upwardly-arched lines of stitches 13 which extendfrom the bottom edge of the garment to a region just below thewaistline, and by a plurality of spaced downwardly curved lines ofstitches 14 which extend downwardly from the waistline and are tangentto the meeting upwardly-arched lines of stitches 13. And, as shown inFIG. 2, the inner and outer sections or layers 1 and 2 of elastic fabricare secured together at the back of the garment by lines .of stitches 15which engage the edge of the wide V-shaped cutout area 6 (FIG. 3), andby lines of stitches 16 which engage the edge of the inverted V-shapedcut-out area 7 (FIG. 3).

The garment shown in FIG. 6 to 8 is a panty girdle but, except that itis modified to provide legs, it is otherwise the same as the girdleshown in FIGS. 1 to 4; hence the same reference numerals are used toindicate the parts previously described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 4.

Because of the cut-out area 5 in the front of the inner section 1, andthe cut-out area 7 in the back of said inner section 1, the portions ofthe assembled garment which coincide with these cut-out areas have onlythe single thickness constituting the outside elastic section 2. Aspreviously shown n connection with FIG. 4, this outer elastic section 2has a small central cut-out area 8 of inverted V-shaped extendingupwardly from the bottom edge. A crotch piece 18 of soft inelasticfabric is stitched to the edges of said cut-out area 8 and to the edgesof a cut-out portion which is formed in the single thickness of theelastic outer section 2 inwardly of the lines of stitches 16. This formsthe legs of the panty girdle, as illustrated.

The panty girdle illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 is similar to that shownin FIGS. 6 to 8 except that it has longer legs. To accomplish this, theouter and inner sections of the garment are extended downwardly and thelines of stitches 16 at the. back are necessarily longer than before.The legends on the drawings indicate the regions where the elasticfabric of the outer section 2 constitute areas of single thickness. Theother regions, not so marked in FIGS. 9 and 10, have the doublethickness of the inner and outer elastic sections or layers.

lclaim:

I. A figure molding foundation garmentfor womencomprising two sectionscomposed of two-way stretch elastic fabric which are connected togetherby vertical seams at the front and back, and which is adapted toencircle the body of the wearer from the waist downwardly below thehips, the said two sections of the garment being composed of an outerlayer of elastic fabric which extends throughout the garment andan innerlayer of similar fabric which underlies said outer layer, said innerlayer having an area cut out of the front at the central bottom thereofand extending upwardly into the region of the crotch, an area cut out ofthe upper portion ofthe back and extending up to the waistline, and anarea cut out ofthe lower central back and extending down to the bottomofthe garmentv said inner and outer layers ol'elastic material beingstitched together at the front and back of the garment.

2. A garment according to Claim 1, in which the outer layer of elasticfabric has a cut-out area in the front extending upwardly from thebottom edge, and a crotch piece secured to the edges of said cut-outarea and to the lower back of said outer layer and forming panty girdleleg portions.

3. A light weight form-fitting figure molding foundation garment forwomen comprising two sections composed of twoway stretch elastic fabricwhich are connected together by vertical seams at the front and back,and which is adapted to encircle the body of the wearer from the waistdownwardly below the hips, the portions of said two sections adjacentsaid vertical back seam being shaped to provide fullness to keep theback of the garment from pulling down when the wearer is seated, thesaid two sections of two-way stretch elastic fabric being composed of anouter layer of sheer fine gauge elastic material which extendsthroughout the garment and an inner layer of similar material whichunderlies said outer layer; the front of said inner layer having agenerally inverted U-shaped area cut out of the central bottom thereofand extending upwardly into the region of the crotch, a generallyV-shaped upper central area cut out of the back and extending up to thewaistline, and a generally V-shaped portion cut out of the lower centralback area and extending down to the bottom ofthe garment; the inner andouter layers of elastic material being secured together at the front ofthe garment by a plurality of spaced upwardly-arched lines of stitcheswhich extend from the bottom edge ofthe garment to a region just belowthe waistline, and by a plurality of spaced downwardly from curved linesof stitches which extend downwardly the waistline and are tangent tosaid upwardlyarched lines of stitches, and said inner and outer layersof powernet material being secured together at the back of the garmentby lines of stitches adjacent said V-shaped upper central back area andsaid inverted V-shaped lower central back area, and hose supporterssecured to the lower edge of said garment. I

4. A foundation garment according to Claim 2, m WhlCh the outer layer ofsheer fine-gauge powernet material extends downwardly in both the frontand back of the garment and forms panty legs whose single thickness ofpowernet material is adapted to cover the inner thighs of the wearer,and a crotch piece stitched to said single thickness of powernet andcooperating therewith to form said panty legs.

